Goldfinch

Carduelis carduelis

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

13cm. Red face, white cheeks and throat, black cap and black-and-gold wings. In flight wings show broad golden bands, and white rump and black tail are visible. Sexes alike, but juvenile has a brown-streaked head.

VOICE

Cheerful trisyllabic ‘tickelitt’ call. Song a series of rapid trills and twitters.

HABITAT

Resident in Britain. Open lowland woodland, heaths, orchards and gardens in most of Europe. Flocks often found around coastal fields and scrub in winter.

FOOD AND HABITS

Eats seeds and berries. Favours teasels and thistle heads. Nest made of hair and rootlets; positioned high in canopy.

Linnet

Carduelis cannabina

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

13cm. Breeding male has a crimson forehead and breast, and a chestnut mantle. Winter male resembles female.

VOICE

Canary-like song is a pleasant twitter consisting of chirping and rolling sounds, sung from the top of a bush.

HABITAT

Resident in Britain. Open fields with bushes and waste ground. Farmland and coasts in winter. Widespread throughout most of Europe.

FOOD AND HABITS

Mostly eats seeds and arable weeds. Often breeds in loose colonies. Nest a grassy cup well hidden in a shrub. Common but declining due to changes in agricultural practices.

Twite

Carduelis flavirostris

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

13cm. Small, rather drab brown, small-billed, streaky finch, similar to female Linnet. Male has variable pink patch on rump, and both sexes a marked cinnamon-brown flush on the face and upper breast. Grey bill becomes yellow in winter.

VOICE

Various rather harsh, nasal calls. Song a simple combination of call notes.

HABITAT

Breeds on coasts and uplands in northern Europe including northern Britain, moves south in winter. Prefers moorland edges, upland farmland and, in winter, coastal fields and partly vegetated upper slopes of beaches.

FOOD AND HABITS

Feeds on seeds, and in summer small invertebrates. Flocks in winter. Mainly feeds at ground level.